Share Prices Plunge as KSE-100 Closes at 179,911

Pakistan Stock Exchange – (Web Desk) – The KSE-100 closes at 179,911 points June 19, ending a choppy day at the Pakistan Stock Exchange. Stocks slipped after news broke that US-Iran peace talks in Switzerland had been put on hold.

The day did not start badly. In fact, the index jumped over 700 points early on, touching a high near 182,185 points. For a while, it looked like Friday would carry on the previous day’s good mood.

But that mood did not last. Sellers stepped in, and the index lost ground fast. It slid all the way down to near 178,400 points before buyers came back in small numbers.

By 3 pm, the KSE-100 had dropped 1,486.78 points, or 0.83%, to settle at 179,911.43. Even so, trading stayed busy. Around 600 million shares changed hands, worth close to Rs29 billion.

Just a day earlier, the market had a great run. It closed up by 887 points at 181,398, giving investors hope that the rally still had legs.

The rupee, meanwhile, held steady. It traded at about Rs278.26 against the US dollar in the interbank market, showing little reaction to the stock market swings.

So what changed? The drop followed word that US-Iran talks in Geneva, a key piece of the Islamabad MoU peace plan, had been pushed back. That news shook investor confidence going into the weekend.

Many analysts had expected a calmer, more positive Friday. They had pointed to cooling tensions and steady monetary policy as reasons for optimism. Instead, the market moved the other way.